A new chapter for you all =3 Thanks for all the reviews, alerts and favs - Glad to know you are all enjoying reading this =D

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"You look terrible" Gaius said as he slopped a ladle full of lumpy porridge in Merlin's bowl.

"Really?" Merlin said, rubbing the dark circles under his eyes "Because I feel great"

"Lair" Gaius muttered as he splashed a second ladle full down on top of the first.

"I'll be fine" Merlin insisted "Not like there's anything I have to do anyway. I'm on 'holiday'" he mimicked Arthur's tone and moodily pushed the congealed lumps around his bowl.

"Holiday?" Gaius asked sounding a little alarmed "You saw Arthur already? What did you tell him?"

"I told him I got lost" Merlin answered bluntly and truthfully, realising just how bad his excuse sounded now. At the time it had seemed quite plausible to him, he actually got lost quite often when wandering around the castle, though that wasn't really his fault he thought stabbing at the lumps a little more violently, crushing them under his spoon. The servants passages were a rabbit warren, full of twists and turns and little doors that lead to even more twists and turns and staircases; not to mention the fact it all looked the same, one twisting corridor of cold grey stone looked a lot like another, especially when dimly lit, like they always were.

He had gotten lost in the forest of a couple of occasions too, but again, one tree looked a lot like another, and when he was being used as live bait, to help lure out any of the assorted nasties that Arthur so loved to hunt, it was hardly surprising that he wasn't too concerned about direction, and more concerned about being eaten. Still saying it again to himself now, it was little wonder that Arthur hadn't believed him; Gaius's expression also showed his dismay at the feeble attempt at deception. "It was the best I could come up with" Merlin said, trying to defend himself.

"Apparently" Gaius said dryly. "For someone with a secret as dangerous as yours, Merlin, you're a very bad lair." It was hard to say whether that was a compliment or an insult, so Merlin just shrugged and went back to half heartedly stabbing at the lumps in his dish. Gaius sighed and tapped the table with one of his gloved hands; "Well" he said after a short pause "It's not as bad as it could have been".

"Arthur didn't believe me"

"Oh" Said Gaius lightly, then "Oh" as what Merlin had said dawned on him fully. "That is a problem"

"And he wants me to come and explain to him where I was…"

"What are you going to tell him?"

"The truth" Merlin said slamming down his spoon with a clatter, his porridge less lumpy than it had been, but otherwise untouched.

"You can't" Gaius told him firmly.

"Why not?" demanded Merlin folding his arms over his chest, the motion causing him to wince slightly in pain. "He's my friend – I'd trust him with my life".

"Yes and that's exactly what you would be doing – But you know how the King feels about magic. You can't let Arthur know about your gifts, if he ever found out he would have to arrest you or defy his father, and the laws of Camelot. Think about the position that would put him in, would you really make him choose between you and his father?" Gaius asked, already knowing the answer. "No one can know about you Merlin, for their good and yours" he added more kindly.

"It feels like I'm living a lie" Merlin said more quietly, staring down at his grubby finger nails where they rested on the edge of the rough wooden table. Gaius did not respond to that straight away, instead he just rose from his bench and patted Merlin roughly on the shoulder.

"One day" he promised vaugley "One day the time will be right".

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"Come" Arthur answered the knock at his door. "Ah – Merlin" he said recognising the figure loitering in his door way "Didn't get lost on the way here I take it" he added sardonically, placing his goblet back down on the table and he beckoned Merlin into the room.

"No, Sire"

"Good – Then I take it you're here to tell me where exactly you went gallivanting off to" Arthur said, folding his arms across his chest as he leant against the side of his high backed wooded chair. "Let's hear it then" he prompted, noting Merlin's reluctance. After consulting with Gaius earlier that morning Merlin finally had what sounded like a convincing story; between them they had built on his foundation of 'getting lost' and had embellished it to the point where it now seemed quite plausible.

"I got a message from my Mother" Merlin began.

"Your Mother" Arthur repeated sceptically "…Right. Go on"

"It said she was very ill and wanted me to come and see her" Merlin carried on as if Arthur hadn't interrupted him.

"But your Mother is here… In Camelot. I've seen her." Arthur interrupted him again.

"Yes" Merlin said slowly "Thing is I misread the message she sent me. It said she wasn't very well and that she was coming to see me, not that I should come and see her"

"You couldn't read a simple message" Arthur was torn between scorn and disbelief, then again Merlin was a servant, so it was entirely possible he couldn't read Arthur reflected a little guiltily. Generally only nobles were taught their letters, servants and the lower orders were purposefully kept in ignorance, the teaching of reading and writing being strictly frowned upon, so that most servants couldn't read or write anything beyond their own name, the idea being that this way they couldn't happen upon any private document left laying around and then share any of their masters secret; it was also partly so that they didn't get ideas above their station. It was not a practice Arthur was particularly fond of, but it was one that had been around since before even his father's time. "You can read… Can't you?" Arthur asked.

"Yes I can read" Merlin said a little affronted "It's her writing, it's terrible, it could say anything" he fished the fabricated note out of his shirt pocket, his mother had hastily scribbled it for him that morning, in her untidiest scrawl, so that he would have props to go with his display, and held it out to Arthur. After a slight pause he took it and scanned the contents, his eyebrows creeping closer together with every line he read.

"I see what you mean" he said when he was done and handed it back, where upon Merlin folded it up again and returned it to his breast pocket. "But that still doesn't explain why you took my best horse, or why it took you so long to bring it back, or why you came back in the state you did" he added stubbornly, still demanding the full story.

"You see" Merlin fished the note out of his pocket again and unfolded it to point out one particularly smeary paragraph. "I thought it said 'I'm dying'" he tapped the note with one of his fingers, and Arthur leaned closer to inspect it. "Turns out it actually says 'I'm trying'" The line of text in question was a little ambiguous; Arthur had to agree on that point. "So I just grabbed the first horse I came to – She's my mother" he shrugged.

"Alright" Arthur said accepting that without further question. "And the rest?"

"Well when I got there, she wasn't, I asked someone where she was and they said she had gone to Camelot to find me. So I turned around to come home"

"Obviously, and…" Arthur prompted him to go on.

"I was attacked by brigands in the night-" This was the point where Merlin had wanted to add an epic battle where he had single handedly defeated a band of at least twenty cutthroat brutes, using just his bare hands and a length of string from his pocket, 'We want it to be believable Merlin', Gaius had chided him. "They wanted your horse-" Unable to help himself, Merlin left a dramatic pause before continuing "It was dark, and after a brief scuffle I managed to grab your horse and get away…But I got off the trail, and got lost… Took me a while to find it again" he admitted with a sheepish grin and rubbed the toe of his scuffed boot on the flag stone floor.

"How may of these brigands were there?" Arthur cross questioned him.

"Oh – Er – Must have been at least five – No, six big burly men" Merlin said gesturing wildly with his hands to indicated just how big they had been. Arthur snorted, so that meant there had probably been two of them and they had crept up on Merlin when he was sleeping; he was lucky not have had his throat slit straight off Arthur thought his eye brows knitting themselves into a frown.

"They did that to you?" Arthur gestured at Merlin's chest. Merlin nodded, and Arthur sucked in a deep breath as he manoeuvred himself round to sit in his chair. "It's quite a tale" he said after a decent pause where he eyed Merlin levelly. For a minute Merlin feared Arthur had seen right through his little rouse, his palms began to sweat and he had to clench his fists to stop his fingers from twitching. "Always looking for new ways to get yourself killed aren't you" Arthur said finally, a slight smile playing around his lips as he picked up his goblet up again and swirled the contents around "I'm not sure you're safe to be let out on your own, infact -" he was interrupted by a knock at the door. "Come!"

"Sire, I have taken your horse to the black smiths as you asked, I also took it upon myself to take your chainmail to him my lord, there were a few rings missing on the shoulder that need replacing" Cedric said in a simpering voice.

"Very good" Arthur said tonelessly. "Next you can exercise my dogs, and when you have done that you can get my jousting equipment out of storage in the armoury and see that all is in order with it, I want it all to be perfect for the tournament"

"Of course Sire, at once Sire" Cedric bobbed his head and began to reverse when he spied the cup in Arthur's hand "Shall I refill your goblet Sire?" he asked, scurrying forwards to grab the pitcher sat at the other end of the table. He almost reached it before Merlin stepped in front of him, blocking his path.

"It's ok, I've got it" Merlin said side stepping to block Cedric again, who had shuffled left trying to go round him.

"Merlin let the man do his job" Arthur said tiredly.

"But this is my job!" Merlin shot back.

"Not at the moment it isn't" Arthur reminded him "You're on holiday"

"How long is this holiday going to last?" Merlin asked, spinning round to face Arthur, his expression almost pleading. He had thought once he explained what had happened and where he had been that Arthur would reinstate him; apparently not.

"Until you look up to the job" Arthur said pointedly, Merlin still looked dreadful, his face was deathly pale which made the wide array of bruises and scratches stand out even more. From what Arthur had seen of his bandaged chest he knew full well that Merlin was in a worse state that he would admit, he needed to rest and recover, and if he wouldn't do that for himself then Arthur had no choice but to force him.

"Not even light duties? I could walk your dogs…" Merlin continued cajolingly.

"No Merlin" Arthur snapped. Then softened slightly seeing Merlin's hurt expression. "When your wounds are healed, then you can come back to work. Until then you're not much use to me. Cedric can handle it, so go get better, and leave it to him"

"You can count on me Sire" Cedric cut in silkily, having crept round Merlin to reach the pitcher. "Always happy to serve" he added pouring a trickle of blood red wine into Arthur's cup, his grey blue eyes fixed on Merlin. What could have been a slight sneer played around the corners of his mouth as he added "Until death".

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Next chapter on its way! Its half done already X3